This invention relates to articles of manufacture and, in particular, to an applicator for facilitating the correct placement of cloth wraps on a boxer""s hand.
Boxers generally enwrap their hands with a length of web-like cloth or tape material prior to inserting their hands in their respective gloves. Such hand wraps are very important to protect the boxers"" hands from injury during their practice of the sport. Other sports participants who either offensively or defensively receive blows or forces against their hands, such as football players, may also use similar hand wraps.
The web used to wrap a hand generally must be applied while under a certain amount of tension to assure that it will remain in place during the contemplated activities. Similarly, in order to avoid discomfort or uneven protection, the flexible, generally planar material must be applied with a minimal amount of creases, wrinkles or twists.
The need for the proper amount of tension and the need for a wrinkle-free, crease-free application of the wrap generally mean that two hands are needed to hold, control, and apply the wrap to the boxer""s hand in question. Obviously, since one of the boxer""s hands is being wrapped, the boxer him- or herself cannot supply the two hands required.
This generally means that a second person, such as a trainer or instructor, needs to assist the boxer in applying the hand wraps. In this manner, a suitable amount of tension is imparted to the wrap and a suitably crease-free and wrinkle-free application is accomplished.
While using a second person to apply hand wraps may not be onerous for boxers who have their own personal trainers on hand to assist them, a great many of boxers and other sports enthusiasts do not have the luxury of a trainer or even the availability of a second person to assist in applying hand wraps. Such boxers must go to the trouble of seeking out and xe2x80x9cborrowingxe2x80x9d a pair of hands from another boxer of bystander. If none such individual is available, the boxer often must make do with substandard hand wraps and the less-than-optimal protection they afford. This situation is obviously undesirable.
Removing, storing and reapplying the length of cloth or tape material used for boxers"" hand wraps also suffers from various inconveniences and drawbacks under current practice. In particular, there is no structure available for effectively removing and storing hand wraps after use by the boxers. Instead, after the hand wraps have been unwrapped from the hands in question, the wraps are generally stuffed loosely in a gym bag, pocket, or locker.
When stored in this manner, the planar surfaces of the wrap become folded, creased or wrinkled, making the wrap difficult if not impossible to reapply in the smooth manner preferred.
Even if the boxer were to take the trouble to roll the wrap about itself in an ad hoc manner, the resulting bundle is often generally creased and folded in numerous places and unrolls by the time it is to be reused, making it little better than if it were stored loosely to begin with.
Loose or balled-up wraps also have the undesirable tendency to become tangled with other clothing or equipment. When this happens, not only does the wrap become difficult to extract and reuse itself, but also the wrap interferes with the use of the other clothing or equipment. Needless to say, a boxer or other sports enthusiast faced with such entangled items is at least inconvenienced and frustrated, and may even wind up distracted and enraged before the boxing exercise ever begins, which is generally not desirable.
A wrap often has a loop attached to one of its ends for placing over the boxer""s fingers or hands at the beginning of the wrapping operation. Conversely, hook-and-eye fasteners, such as so-called xe2x80x9cVELCROxe2x80x9d, are often supplied at the opposite end of the length of material, that is, the end which is destined to be at the exterior of the finished, wrapped hand. Such hook-and-eye fasteners assist in fixing the outer end of the cloth-like material to the user""s hand so that it does not unwind. Such loops or hook-and-eye fasteners only exacerbate the aforementioned tendency for the wrap to become undesirably entangled during storage.
Furthermore, it is generally important for the boxer (or the trainer assisting such boxer) to be able to locate the looped end of the wrap so that the wrap can be started with the loop to the inside of the boxer""s hand. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find the looped end of a wrap stored loosely or balled up under current practices, especially when it is mixed in or hidden under other work-out items. Additional time may need to be spent searching for one""s wrap or other equipment. Such time spent in preparing to work out, rather than in working out, is all the more undesirable because time is often at a premium in boxers"" workouts, especially when training in one of today""s over-subscribed boxing facilities.
The inconvenience of removal, storage, and reuse under current practices is only worse after the wrap has been used in a strenuous work-out and is damp with perspiration. Under such circumstances, the undesirable folds, wrinkles and creases of the wrap stored under current practices become even more rigidly set or stiffened as the perspiration dries. In such condition, it takes even longer to reapply the wrap, as increased efforts are required to untwist and uncrinkle the now stiff material, as it is being applied to the boxer""s hand, such efforts are often not even successful in straightening out the wrap. The reapplication of the wrap in the smooth, planar manner preferred is thus rendered more difficult, if not impossible, as the twists, wrinkles or unevenness of each, stiff layer interfere with the smooth application of succeeding, overlying layers.
Furthermore, even if a previously used wrap is successfully applied, the odor of perspiration emanating from the finished wrap is sometimes not desirable.
There is thus a need for the wrap to be removed and stored in such a way that it can be reused conveniently and without excessive perspiration odor from such reuse.
There is further need for storing the cloth material used for hand wraps in a way that allows the wraps to be oriented and deployed from a stored position as quickly as possible, thereby maximizing the boxer""s training, warm-up, or work-out time.
It would be of great benefit for boxers to be able to apply wraps to their hands by themselves, without needing the assistance of another person.
It would likewise be of great benefit to a boxer to have a means available for applying the wrap to one hand by using the other hand.
It is also desirable, whether the boxer applies the wrap him- or herself, or uses a second person, to be able to apply a wrap equally effectively with the left or with the right hand.
It is desirable for the boxer, without assistance, to be able to apply the appropriate amount of tensioning to the wrap to assure proper fit, and in a way that minimizes the amount of creasing or twisting of the wrap when it is applied.
An applicator for a wrap for a boxer""s hand, in accordance with the present invention, has a spool with a spindle extending from one of the opposite ends of the spool. The surface of the spool is dimensioned to receive both of the side edges of the flexible, planar material which comprises the wrap, all without needing to fold or crease the wrap. There is deodorant associated with the applicator according to this aspect of the present invention.
In one preferred embodiment, the spool and the spindle are secured so as to be non-rotatable relative to each other under a predetermined amount of tangential force. In this way, the person holding the applicator can apply tension to the wrap while the wrap is being applied to the boxer""s hand. The spool is friction fit relative to the spindle, so that when tangential force is applied to the spool above the predetermined amount, the spool rotates.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the spool and the spindle are affixed to each other non-rotatably, so that tension is applied to the wrap whenever the spindle is pulled away from the hand being wrapped, and the spool will only rotate if the user manually rotates the associated spindle.
Yet another version of the present invention has one spindle extending from one end of the spool, and a second spindle extending from the opposite end of the spool. This arrangement means that there is always one spindle positioned away from the boxer""s hand being wrapped, and such xe2x80x9cdistalxe2x80x9d spindle is the one which is most convenient to be grabbed by the other hand to accomplish the desired wrap.
In still another aspect of the present invention, there are flanges at the opposite ends of the spool extending radially outwardly from the receiving surface of the spool. The size of the flanges is selected so that they extend a radial distance which will not be any greater than the radial thickness of a standard wrap received on the spool. A reclosable strap extends from the flanges across the receiving surface. By virtue of the radial size of the flanges, the strap, when closed, contacts the wrap to keep its end from unrolling.
Any of a variety of deodorants can be associated with the applicator of the present invention. One possibility is to make the receiving surface of the spool out of cedar wood. Alternately, the spool can have permeable walls defining a chamber, and deodorizing beads can be placed in the chamber.